Chicagoan Shani Davis Makes Fifth Straight Winter Olympics

CHICAGO, IL — Speed skater Shani Davis, who hails from Chicago's South Side, has qualified for Team USA. He competed at the U.S. Olympic long-track team trials in Milwaukee on Wednesday, and qualified for his fifth straight Olympic Games. The 35-year-old made it into one of three available spots on the men's team.

Davis finished second (1:09.23) in the 1,000-meter race, held at Pettit National Ice Center. Joey Mantia, a 2014 Olympian, came in first (1:09.15), and two-time Olympian Mitch Whitmore came in third (1:09.31).

Davis, a four-time Olympic medalist, has won two gold medals in the 1,000-meter race. At age 24, he became the first African American to win a gold medal at an individual sport at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy in 2006. He earned his second gold medal in the 1,000 meter race in Vancouver's 2010 Olympics. Davis is considered one of the most famous Winter Olympians.

Davis began roller skating on Chicago's South Side when he was two years old, and would dart around the roller rink so quickly that skate guards had to chase him just to ask him to slow down, according to his online biography. A coach suggested he try ice skating, and he then transitioned to speed skating. Davis joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and started competing locally.

He made the U.S. junior national team in 1999 at age 16. In 2002, he made his first Olympics as an alternate for the short track team.

Team USA will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Photo: Morry Gash/Associated Press